


The Edge of Forever

by xDinahQueenx



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Angst, Implied Sexual Content, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-30
Updated: 2010-05-30
Packaged: 2017-10-09 19:16:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/90642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xDinahQueenx/pseuds/xDinahQueenx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"His eyes were closed, dark lashes contrasting with his pale skin, and his eyes fluttered beneath the lids as he felt his mouth, Tim's mouth, on the back of his neck."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Edge of Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a 'What If…' scenario, for the end of Chapter 1 of Coven of Three, the back-up feature in Teen Titans. Title is from a song off of Symphony X's album, 'The Damnation Game'. This also probably should have had more set-up, but it is what it is.

Zach didn't want to question it, though he knew he should. His eyes were closed, dark lashes contrasting with his pale skin, and his eyes fluttered beneath the lids as he felt his mouth, _Tim's_ mouth, on the back of his neck. Warm breath, moist lips, the insistent tug of the suction of the quick sucking, biting kisses that Tim's been peppering his neck with. Zach should question it. He _should_ have questioned it the first time Tim showed up at Ritual and spoke to him of things he'd only dreamt about.

Things like they'd gotten a bad start to knowing one another, and if they could just try again… things like when he asked him out he'd meant on a _date_ and not just out. Things like exactly this… where Tim's hands were deftly undoing the buttons on his dress shirt, and his mouth just seemed to never stop moving. He felt Tim's tongue forming words on the back of his neck, tracing an alphabet he couldn't seem to remember. He felt the words formed on the lips ghosting on his skin, but in a language he couldn't seem to speak. He felt the warm breath against his neck. He just _felt_. Lips and tongue and mouth and everything.

Tim's hands slid underneath his shirt, where it's rucked up, and he should be cranky at Tim for mussing up his uniform, but Zach can't be. Because, gods above, he's _used_ to it, in all the ways he thinks he probably shouldn't be. He memorized the way Tim's fingers feel, callouses from his work, slight, but not delicate. Fine-boned, skilled. They caused a fluttering in Zach's belly, a hunger deep from somewhere, that left him aching and wanting. Even now. Even in the middle of this.

Tim's hands dropped to his belt and he undid it, like he had so many times before. Zach let his head drop back to rest on Tim's shoulder. He felt Tim's mouth on his throat, a press of lips, a gentle nip, and a flick of the tongue to soothe it all away. He didn't mind when Tim's hands slipped in to his pants. It's familiar, he loves it.

Belatedly, he realized he loves Tim. He wasn't sure when it happened.

* * *

"I love you." Tim stated with an emphatic nod, like he'd been building up the courage to say just exactly that. Zach was working on a weekly business report, but that made him look up. Their eyes met and Tim smiled, the edges of his eyes crinkled when he did. Zach felt a fond smile on his face in response. "I love you." Tim said again.

This time, Zach nodded slowly, and Tim's smile widened.

"I love you too." Zach responded, but barely. Because almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Tim was beside him, kissing him. Kissing him long and deep and with so much passion, it _aches_. Zach kisses him back, matches Tim emotion to emotion, and he's fairly certain that this is something. Worth fighting for. Worth _dying_ for, worth anything.   
Tim's mouth s amazing, and when Zach is kissing Tim, he can't taste that familiar, insipid bitter taste of magic that lingers, even though he's sure it's been months since he woke up with that feeling.

He thought that he might tell Tim about it, but there never seems to be the time. Or there's never the right time, because Zach doesn't want to waste his time talking about something like that. Not when he's with Tim.

* * *

"I want to marry you." Zach told Tim, and this time he's the one with the matter-of-fact tone, like there's no refuting the statement. Tim smiles, very brightly. His whole face lights up and it's like watching a sun burst out from darkened clouds.

"The answer is yes, of course." Tim responded without hesitation. That fluttering in Zach's stomach felt even more prominent. He had a ring for him and he slipped it on Tim's finger. They kissed for a long time… before they moved on to other celebratory activities.

Zach told Tim he'll love him forever. Tim grinned back and responded in kind. Zach had never felt happier, lighter, than he did right in these moments.

When they get to sleep, Zach dreamt about forever, and how they were right on the edge of it Today was the first day of the rest of their lives.

* * *

In the end, Zach realized, it was Tim's smile that gave it away. He'd seen it before, a dozen times, since waking up with that odd taste. But he suddenly remembered from before. Tim's smile… had always been somewhat cloistered. Beyond that, Zach could see where it split, fractured, and when he smiled… maybe he hadn't been really happy at all. Zach wanted, _desperately, deeply_ wanted to think that he had fixed that.

But Zach had been fairly certain that part of Tim was unfixable. The smile he put on was… too bright, too cheery. Nothing like his Tim. His Robin. Nothing like… reality, either. It hurt, and he closed his eyes against the pain, as he chanted under his breath that none of it was real.

He made love to Tim one last time… and made sure to memorize _everything_, just in case it turned out he could have this for real. Just in case his dream Tim was anything like the real Tim was. He didn't know how he managed to wake out of that dream, but the bitter dark magic taste came back even stronger, and he saw the relic and he _knew_.

Zach let his temper flare and didn't hold back. He was relentless. He took all of his anger and frustration, pain and hurt and brokenness and used it as a weapon against his captors. When the battle was over, when they'd won… Zach felt like he had lost.

* * *

Zach stood at the edge of forever. But this time, he was alone. The path he was about to walk down was… unhappy, bleak, but he had to do it. He had written Tim a letter, confessing everything. He didn't wait for a reply, it wasn't meant to ever be reconciled.

But Zach couldn't regret, because he had felt what it was like to truly be loved.


End file.
